Thursday, October 10, 2013

J: We literally just finished watching Wild Target, a random Liberty Hall pick that looked to be watchable, funny, and full of brogue.

M: It was quite successful on each of those accounts. I mean, more or less.

J: We just finished discussing how the brogue wasn't really all that memorable - definitely not the focal point of the film - other than a few phrases by Rupert Grint (WEASLEY IS OUR KING!), which Meredith for some reason could not understand.

M: I have a confession. I thought Rupert was his name in the Harry Potter movies. I have only seen one of them, and that was when it first came out a million years ago. My bad.

J: Oh. Em. Eff. Gee. I thought we covered this in Friend 101. His name in the movie (BOOKS) is Ronald (Ron) Weasley. RON. Not Rupert. Katie's dog's name is Rupert. I call him Poopert.

"My name's Ron!"

M: So, Jenna. Would you care - or dare - to provide a general plot summary?

J: I would be glad to! This film focuses on Emily Blunt's character, whose name according to IMDB is Rose, though I had no idea at the beginning of this post. She's a thief of the best, or worst, sort, in that she considers herself invincible and quickly catches the attention of a black market art collector, who she, of course, scams. The hit man hired to kill her falls in love with her instead and through some really predictable British shenanigans...

M: And montages...

J: ...they all end up in the country together, where the movie is resolved, though you'll just have to watch it to see how. A point about the montages, they were kind of adorable if tragically obvious.

M: They were at least very short for the most part.

J: Very true. We did wonder, at times, what genre this movie really preferred because again, it seemed to jump around a bit.

M: I was going to make a joke there about something to do with it being "off target," "missing the bulls-eye," something or other, but I got nothing.

"Oh, you!"

J: I think your efforts speak for themselves. The truth is that we actually liked this movie and its quirky plot. I think Bill Nighy did an especially good job as the emotionally-stunted assassin.

M: Funny story about old Bill...

J: Do go on...

M: Just yesterday I had that song from Love Actually stuck in my head about, "If you really love Christmas," etc. etc.

J: It's a good one, but definitely not the season.

M: I mean we're getting there... I think the fact of the matter is that I really enjoy that movie, partially due to Bill Nigh-y, Nih-ghy, Nee-hee?

J: Yes.

M: He's really great.

J: He was! And I loved his character in this movie. Totally adorable, unintentionally vulnerable, and yet, the love story, in the end, was not at all believable.

M: No! Not even kind of! Frankly, I have to say a good 90% of the movie was not plausible.

J: Well that's where I had to step back and wonder, how unconventional is this movie really hoping to be? It's obviously not a legitimate heist movie - there's a good deal of humor involved - but it didn't even seem to stay within the boundaries it set for itself.

M: Yeah, it never really committed one way or the other. There was no shortage of people being shot, though. Although not a lot of blood. It was all quite clean.

Good clean fun!

J: Exactly my point. It was more of a farce than a true dramatic film, and even then it was a bit too silly. Everyone played their parts beautifully, though, and for what it was, it was kind of perfect.

M: [nods] And obviously, at least one other person has seen this movie, because they put together a soundtrack of the playlist on Spotify, which was not bad.

J: I exclaimed, "I love this song!" several times while watching. Mere backed me up a couple of those. Anything else you'd like add about this sweet little romp?

M: It was indeed a romp. And also a bit uncomfortably reminiscent of Fakers right at the beginning there. I'd have to say overall it was a better film than Fakers.

J: I completely agree on all counts. Did nearly the same thing in a much better fashion. Oh! This is our anniversary!

M: Oh, shit! It is! I mean, it is!

J: That's right everyone, this officially marks almost two years of insightful, educational commentary. To celebrate, we went to Brit's Mixer, Mixer event. Meredith, did you enjoy your British mixers?

M: I did. Sally of Brits, who was mixing the mixers, had some very insightful tips about those occasions when you can't quite afford the expensive booze. You should simply upgrade your mixers! It's quite brilliant.

J: I definitely had never considered that alternative, and I most enjoyed the offerings.

M: I also quite enjoyed making sausage jokes with the caterer, Matt, the owner of Queen Lizzy's. He was most certainly British and chatty and lovely.

J: He was! Herby sausage, folks. Apparently it's delicious, but not gluten-free. I had the sliders and a curry chicken drumstick instead, and loved everything. So tell everyone what we're going to do, or make a vague promise, or something.

His teeth were easily the most frightening part of this movie.Do not look directly at the teeth.

M: We have a lot of great things in store here for the next year of Blog with a Brogue. Lots of films that haven't come out yet, television shows that have not been released in the States, and one from 2007 that we are very excited to look into as soon as possible! Post haste!

J: You'll just have to check back in to find out what it is. I promise, it'll be good. Better than this. Remember what I said about promises.

[drier buzzes]

M: [nearly spits out drink] I wish we had a gif that. That was ridiculous. It's like the noise you hear when you sit too close to the scorers' table at a basketball game, except maybe louder.

J: But hey, my clothes are dry! Go, me. Sorry about your heart.

M: [still recovering] [breathes deeply]

J: BWAB is gonna wrap it up a bit early tonight. Hope you folks have a lovely Thursday. We just turned off Spotify because good lord, that music. No.

We can explain...

A hundred years ago, when we were in high school, we bonded over our mutual love of Irish culture. With a little hard work and one traumatizing Student Senate experience, The Irish American Club was born!

Though the club accomplished nothing more than holding a St. Patrick's Day bake sale (which funded some seriously rad t-shirts), we're back again for another try. This time, it's different (we swear!).

We recently spent a year studying beginning Irish Gaelic at the Irish Cultural Center in Kansas City, Missouri. We also both own laptops and enough expendable income to find and view plenty of movies. Then there's the matter of all the time we've discovered we have since graduating from college...

Bottom line: Blog with a Brogue is a chance for us, and you, to delve a little deeper into one of the things we find most fascinating about Irish (or any) culture: the accent. In this blog, we're featuring accents from the Atlantic Archipelago, which includes Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and England.

Sit back, grab a pint of your favorite beverage (if it's in a pint glass, it counts), and enjoy!